Loop controlling means in sheet handling device



June 19, 1956 E. G. SCHAIRER 2,751,223

LOOP CONTROLLING MEANS m SHEET HANDLING DEVICE Filed July 2, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR EDWARD G. SCHAIRER gal-071W ATTORNEY June 19, 1956 E. G. SCHAIRER LOOP CONTROLLING MEANS IN SHEET HANDLING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 2 1951 A, mp

IN VENTOR EDWARD G SCHAIRER ATTORNEY LOOP CONTROLLTNG MEANS IN SHEET LING DEVICE Application July 2, 1951, Serial No. 234,810 2 Claims. (Cl. 271-2.2)

This invention relates to a continuous sheet handling device, and more particularly to a device for handling a continuous web of sheet material such as linoleum or the like while the same is being transferred from one processing operation to another.

It is desirable in many instances when transferring a web of sheet material from one processing operation to another to place the material in an accumulator located between two processing devices so that a reserve supply of material will be available in festoons in the event it is necessary to temporarily stop the operation of one of the devices. With an arrangement of this kind, it is possible for the other devices in the processing line to continue operation during such temporary halting.

In the past, the manufacturing lines for sheet material have been arranged in such manner that all of the mate rial processed on one device is fed into an accumulator and the material is supplied from the accumulator to the next processing operation. This has resulted in an unnecessary amount of handling of the material in some instances, inasmuch as it is not necessary to use the accumulator at all times.

In order to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art structures, 1 have developed a new type of accumulator over which the material passes from one processing operation to the other and in which the material may be stored, if desired, so that a reserve supply of sheet material will be available to keep the second operation running in the event the first operation is closed down for a short period of time. It may also be used to allow the first operation to continue in the event the second operation is closed down for a short period. In order to accomplish this purpose, it has been found desirable to synchronize the speed of the pull roll moving the goods from the first processing operation with the speed of the accumulator and the speed of the carriage used for removing the sheet material from the accumulator to pass it on to the second operation. The most practical way of doing this has been found to be by utilizing a single motor to operate all three of these elements.

An object of this invention is to provide a device for accumulating a reserve supply of sheet material between processing stations in the processing of sheet material and from which the sheet material can be withdrawn at a rate in excess of the rate at which the material is fed into the accumulator.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device for removing festoons of sheet material from a continuously operating accumulator utilizing a pull-out roll which is capable of movement in a horizontal direction opposed to the direction of movement of the accumulator so that the pull-out roll will always be positioned approximately over the festoon which is being removed.

In order that my invention may be more readily understood, it will be described in connection with the attached drawing in which Figure 1 is an elevational view of the device; and

Figure 2 is an end elevational view showing the double clutch arrangement.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown an accumulator supporting structure 2 on which is mounted a series of accumulator rolls 3 which are carried by a continuously moving chain 4, which moves about sprockets 5 and 6. The companion sprockets at the other end of the device are not shown on the drawing. Positioned above the accumulator is a carriage 7 over which the goods may pass from one operation to the other, or over which the material is drawn to remove it from the accumulator in the event the accumulator is being used. A motor 8 is provided, which drives the assembly through the drive chain 9. Drive chain 9 from the motor drives a sprocket 10 which has a gear 11 in mesh with a gear 12 on a goods lift roll or feed-in roll 13. It should be borne in mind that the motor 8 drives the entire assemblythe accumulator 3, the carriage 7, and the goods lift roll 13. This goods lift roll 13 pulls the material 14 from the preceding processing operation into the accumulator assembly. Through suitable gearing in the gear box 15 the motor 8 also drives a chain 15, which drives sprocket 6, operating the accumulator chain 4, carrying with it the accumulator rolls 3, and forms a festoon between the two adjacent accumulator rolls. The goods is held from slipping over the preceding roll 3 by means of a bightmaker which may be any of the conventional bightmakers but is preferably of the vacuum type such as shown in patent application Serial No. 170,862, filed on June 28, 1950, in the name of Joseph H. Kyle, Adams, and Wilbur C. Brunner, which matured into Patent No. 2,620,183, issued December 2, 1952.

The drive chain 9 from the motor 8 also passes over two sprockets 16 and 17. These sprockets are connected to other sprockets 18 and 19, respectively, by a clutch arrangement. Sprockets 18 and 19 drive chain 20, which drives the carriage 7.

The motor 8 is continuously operated, regardless of whether the sheet material is being fed into the device, being withdrawn from the device, or merely passing over the device. The motor 8 drives the sprockets 16 and 17. If the material is being accumulated in the device, the clutch 31 between the sprocket 16 and the sprocket 18 is engaged, and the clutch 32 between the sprocket 17 and the sprocket 19 is-disengaged. With the clutch 31 between the sprockets 16 and 13 in engagement, the chain 20 is driven in the direction shown by the arrow A. With this arrangement, the chain 20 drives the mechanism for the lift roll 21 in a counterclockwise direction; however, roll 21 is provided with an overriding clutch so that it is driven in one direction only, and this overriding clutch permits the roll to remain stationary so long as the mechanism continues to operate in a counterclockwise direction. The rotatable mechanism on the lift roll 21 carries a small gear, which is in mesh with a gear 22, which, through gears 23 and 24 and chain 25, drives a sprocket 26 keyed to shaft 27, which carries the carriage supporting wheels 28. These carriage supporting wheels are on a track 29 and move the carriage in the direction of the arrow A when the chain is operating in the direction of the arrow A. The ratio of the gear train between the roll 21 and the carriage wheels 28 is such that the speed of movement of the carriage is the same as the speed of the accumulator chain 4.

When it is desirable to withdraw the web of sheet material from the accumulator, the direction of travel of the chain 20 must be reversed. This is accomplished by disengaging the clutch 31 between sprocket 16 and sprocket 18, and the clutch 32 between sprocket 17 and sprocket 19 is engaged. When this is done, the chain John Q.

20 reverses its direction and moves in the direction opposite that shown by the arrow A. The clutches Si and 32 are pneumatic clutches and are connected to air lines 33 and 34, respectively. The valving arrangement is such that when the one clutch is connected to a source of air under pressure, the otherone will be disconnected in order to prevent the possibility of the two clutches being engaged simultaneously. The pneumatic clutches 31 and 32 are conventional pneumatic clutches. The driving mechanism for the lift roll 21 is then operating clockwise and the overriding clutch engages, turning the roll with the mechanism, drawing material out of the accumulator. Inasmuch as the reversal of chain 20 has reversed the direction of rotation of the driving mechanism of the lift roll 21, it has also reversed the direction of the rotation of the carriage wheels 28 so that the carriage is now moving in a direction opposite that of the direction of travel of the accumulator. The ratio between the sprockets 1'7 and 19 is different from the ratio between sprockets 16 and 18,- so that the speed of chain 20 is less when operating in the direction opposite that shown by the arrow A, causing the carriage to move at a rate approximately one-half the speed of the accumulator, and in the opposite direction.

The reverse speed of the carriageis coordinated with the length of the festoons so that the carriage will" always be positioned directly over the-festoon being withdrawn. This enables the carriage 7 to remove the ma terial from the accumulator 3 at a rate greater thanthe rate at which the material is fed into the accumulator. When the material is all removed from-the accumulator, the goods 14 follows the path shown on dotted line 14' between the goods lift roll 13 and theroll 21. When this condition exists, the carriage is stopped and the motor turns roll 13, and roll 21,merely' serves as an idler for supporting the goods in its path of travel to the next processing station, which is equipped with a pull roll for pulling the goods thereto.

When it is desired to remove the festoons of sheet material from the accumulator when the preceding processing operation is closed down and nomaterialis being fed into the device, the carriage 7 mustbe moved manually. This is necessary by reason of the fact that the motor 8 is not operatingand, therefore, the entire assembly shown in the drawing is not operating. When this con dition exists, the sheet materialis pulled from the carriage by means of the pull roll at the nextprocessing station, and the roll 21 merely serves as an idler roll. In order to position the roll-21 directly over the festoon being withdrawn, the carriage 7 is moved manually by means of a hand crank 30, which fits on the square end of the shaft, to which gear 24 is keyed. Rotation of this hand crank turns the wheels 28, moving the carriage to its desired position.

In the operation of my device, if it is necessary to accumulate a web of sheet material on the accumulator, the material is fed up over the lift roll- 13 onto the accumulator rolls 3 and hangs in festoons between the accumulator rolls 3. During this operation the accumulator is continuously moving in the direction-of the arrow A, and the carriage 7 is moving in the direction of the arrow A at the same speed that the accumulator moves. When it is desired to remove the goods from the accumulator, the lift roll 21 is rotated in a clockwise direction, pulling the material out of the accumulator and feeding it onto the next processingtstation, the direction of travel of chain 20 is-reversed,-and the carriage liftsthe festoons from theaccumulator ata speed greater than the rate at which the accumulator is being filled. This enables the carriage to remove all of the material from the accumulator, after which the material may be fed directly from the lift roll 13 to the next processing station.

It will be clear from the above that I have developed an accumulator suitable for being positioned between two stations in a processing line handling sheet materials in which it is necessary for one station to be closed down for a short period of time while the other station continues to operate.

I claim:

1. In a device of the type described for handling a continuous web of sheet material, the combination comprising a feed roll; a continuously moving accumulator for storing a quantity of material in festoons supplied by said feed roll; a supporting track positioned above said accumulator; a movable carriage positioned on said track, said carriage being provided with traction wheels in engagement with said track to move said carriage along said track,- a pull-out roll mounted on said carriage for removing material from the accumulator; a slip clutch connected to said pull-out roll, the arrangement being such that; the pull-out roll is positioned in a vertical plane slightly beyond the festoon' farthest removed from the feed roll; common means for driving the feed roll, accumulator, carriage, and pull-out roll, said common driving. mean comprising dual driving wheels engageable with a common flexible drive means, said flexible drive means driving said carriage and engaging said pull-out roll to turn it in one direction; a clutch for each driving wheel; and means for selectively engaging each of the clutches with its separate driving wheel to reverse the direction of travel of saidflexible driving means, said flexible means when movingin one direction causing said carriage to move in one direction and causing said pullout roll to turn, and'when said flexible means is moved in the other direction, causing said carriage to move in another direction and said pull-out roll to slip.

2. In a device of the type described for handling a continuous web of sheet material, the combination comprising a feed roll; a continuously moving accumulator for storing a quantity of material in festoons supplied by said teed roll; a pull-out roll mounted for horizontal movement above said accumulator; a slip clutch connected to said pull-out roll, the arrangement being such that the pull-out roll is positioned in a vertical plane slightly beyond the festoon farthest removed from the feed roll; common means for driving the feed roll, accumulator, and imparting rotary movement and'horizontal movement to the pull-out roll, saidcommon driving means comprising dual driving wheels eugageable with a common flexible drive means, said flexible drive means driving said pull-out roll in a horizontal direction and engaging said pull-out roll to turn it in one direction; a clutch for each driving wheel; andmeans for selectively engaging each of the clutches with its respective driving wheel to reverse the direction oftravel of said flexible drive means, said flexible mea'ns when moving in one direction causing said pull-out roll to move horizontally in one direction and causing said pull-out roll to turn, and when said flexible means is moved in the other direction, causing said pull-out roll to move horizontally in another direction and-causing said pull-out roll to slip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 947,696 Gordon Jan. 25 1910 1,459,04 cumter June' 19, 192.3 2,035,227 Fowler Mar. 24, 1936 2,277,658 Anderson Mar. 31, 1942 2,344,225 Washburn" Mar. 14, 1944 

